1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to methods for detecting and reporting the state of a vessel during travel. An embodiment of the invention may be used detect and report the in-flight state of an air vessel.
2. Description of Related Art
Many systems have been developed for sensing and reporting vehicle or vessel traffic. These systems may incorporate data from one or more sensors to track and/or report a condition of a vessel. One example of a marine vessel tracking system is a system that uses reports transmitted from marine vessels to a tracking center to follow marine traffic, described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,658,349 to Cline, which is incorporated by reference as if fully set forth herein. Another example of such a system was developed as a government-off-the-shelf (GOTS) vessel tracking system for the U.S. Coast Guard by the Naval Air Warfare Center, Aircraft Division (NAWCAD) at Paxutent River, Maryland. This system is generally known as the Coast Guard Vessel Traffic System (CGVTS). U.S. Pat. No. 6,249,241 to Jordan et al., which is incorporated by reference as if fully set forth herein, describes the CGVTS as an improved radar harbor surveillance sensor, computer, and display system that monitors marine harbor traffic, provides advisories to vessels in areas selected by system operators, and provides the operators of the system with early warning of unacceptable traffic conflicts in a harbor.
The CGVTS replaced radar plan position indicator (PPI) displays with commercial computer systems able to present radar images and tracks overlaid on electronic charts. The CGVTS may be integrated with a set of closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras and/or voice radio communication interfaces to provide a more complete vessel traffic management system. The CGVTS system was installed successfully in the ports of New York, Puget Sound, and San Francisco harbors between 1993 and 1995.
The original CGVTS system was designed to run on a UNIX operating system. Following introduction of the original CGVTS, code for operating the CGVTS has been ported to Microsoft Windows® operating systems (e.g., Windows® NT and Windows® 2000). The CGVTS may be operated on commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) systems on the Microsoft Windows® operating system.
The system has been updated, refined, and renamed SureTrak™ by NAWCAD. Current versions of the SureTrak™ vessel tracking system include several functional components (e.g., sensors, data analysis components, tracking components). The SureTrak™ vessel tracking system includes a system architecture that allows functional components to operate on separate processors or allows functional components to be co-located on a single processor. Such a system architecture allows the vessel tracking system to be flexible in size and allows for integration of new or updated functional components more easily.